London Campaign Against Police and State Violence

Today, Wednesday 17th December is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

The London Campaign against Police and State Violence stands in solidarity with sex workers who face violence often in their work. Last year on the 4th December, the Metropolitan Police using 250 police officers, invited Sky News, BBC and the London Evening standard to watch and photograph the intimidation and violence that accompanied the mass arrest in Soho.

We acknowledge that these raids did very little to help or “rescue” these workers but instead publicly shamed these women, legitimised evictions and put them into greater risk and vulnerability. As we have seen in Brixton earlier this year, this gentrification, by which we mean the displacement of settled working class communities, is performed through orchestrated violence and the combined efforts of selective capital disinvestment and investment. The motive was neither a moral crusade for “values” nor a protective effort to “save” trafficked women, this was about capitalist revanchism. The eviction of marginalised women, the seizure of property and land was in order to increase profitability of rents. For this reason, the spectacle of violence was meted out by the State. The attacks that these sex workers endured and continue to endure, imperilled not only their safety and physical bodies but also their ability to survive.

We support the statement and pledge to end violence against sex workers written by the Safety First Initiative and the candle-lit march today called by the Prostitutes Collective which starts at Soho Square at 6:45pm, more details here.

We the organisers: London Black Revs, NUS Black Students’ Campaign and London Campaign against Police & State Violence thank the hundreds of participants of our protest and a special thank you to those who travelled from West London, to Central London, Leyton, Sutton and Wandsworth to assist and greet arrestees as they were imprisoned overnight.

We are appalled that the Metropolitan Police chose to arrest 76 people, some of whom were non-participants, during the Eric Garner Solidarity Die-in protest in Shepherd’s Bush on Wednesday. This demonstration was called in solidarity to with Eric Garner’s family and protesters in New York and across the USA demonstrating against the failure to indict NYPD officers who were responsible for his death. This has happened in the context of the recent deaths of Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Michael Brown to mention a few Black lives ended by police officers.

Our protest was non-violent and was shut down because it was effective. The protesters have made it clear that the issue of police impunity to kill people of African descent is strongly felt and relevant here in the UK. Placards stating “Black Lives Matter” were held in London as we have suffered the pain and shame of no police officers held to account for the deaths of Joy Gardner, Sean Rigg and most recently Mark Duggan. “I can’t breathe” was also one of the last things that Jimmy Mubenga said and we also note his violent death under State supervision.

We condemn the Metropolitan Police’s indiscriminate practice of kettling, attacking protesters with metal batons and mass arrests. This dubious practice has resulted in several children, and visibly identified legal observers, one NUJ registered journalist and an unknown number of unfortunate bystanders, as well as dozens of innocent protesters, being held overnight across London for “violent disorder”.

This has become a terrible trend in public order policing. Mass arrests were used against over 145 UK Uncut protesters in 2011, 182 cyclists at the Olympic Critical Mass ride in 2012 and on 286 people during the Tower Hamlets anti-fascist demonstration last year. These huge arrests produced almost zero convictions. What is different in our case is that the charge has a maximum penalty of five years. This is far more serious than the offences alleged used in previous cases. It is wrong to use the charge of “violent disorder” on people who have been endured threats and physical assaults by Met Police officers and security guards. This disproportionate response appears to cast hundreds of people protesting against racialised police violence as a threat to public safety. We note the strange inconsistency in the seriousness of the accusation, and the fact that the vast majority of arrestees have not been given any bail conditions.

The probable motive for these mass arrests are, as the Metropolitan Police has admitted on record, for intelligence gathering on people who care about injustice and dare to speak up in public. We believe this is a despicable policy that threatens the civil liberties and fundamental human rights of us all. A Police force that routinely criminalises black people through stop & search, spied on the Lawrence family, recently called “institutionally racist” by its own Black officers association and is publicly shamed into paying out £400,000 to compensate a woman who had the misfortune to have a child under false pretences with an undercover officer is morally bankrupt.

To the arrestees, we stand with you in solidarity. We will announce our next action soon. If you were arrested or witnessed anything before or during the arrests, please get in touch with Green & Black Cross Legal Support at gbclegal@riseup.net

***UPDATE – ONLY TRAINED LEGAL OBSERVERS REQUIRED ***

This is an urgent request made by London Campaign against Police & State Violence on behalf of London Black Revolutionaries.

Tonight there will be a solidarity die-in in the Shepherd’s Bush area, LBR has been notified that there will be a police presence and in anticipation of that, we are asking for people to volunteer as Legal Observers for the “die-in” demonstration.

This will mean that you will not participate in the “die-in” but instead be there to observe the actions of the police and document them for future use. If you have had no experience doing this but have received training then you will be paired up with an experienced observer. We are working with Green & Black Cross Legal to coordinate the legal observing for this event.

All those who are interested and are trained legal observers (via GBC Legal or Legal Defence & Monitoring Group) must email GBCLEGAL (at) RISEUP (dot) NET using “die-in LO” in the subject header and give a contact name (this does not have to be your real name) and a phone number in the email.

Thank you for your support and see you on the streets

A Communique from Ferguson, Missouri

Ferguson Speaks: A Communique From Ferguson from FitzGibbon Media on Vimeo.

#FergusonSpeaks

As law enforcement officials and national media gear up for a St Louis County Grand Jury’s announcement as to whether it will levy charges against Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the August 9th shooting of Michael Brown Jr., activists have issued a 9 minute video communiqué providing an intimate look at the climate on the ground.

The video communiqué displays a cross section of the myriad groups activated in the region and includes exclusive footage of Vonderrit Meyers Sr., Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III, celebrated artist and HandsUpUnited.org cofounder Tef Poe, Taurean Russell, Lost Voices organizer Low Key, Millennial Activists United co-creator Ashley Yates, activist and Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams, Damon Davis — a volunteer with The Don’t Shoot Coalition, Canfield Watchmen founder David Whitt, as well as local Ferguson business managers.

Viewers are encouraged to tweet, share, and embed the video using the accompanying hashtag #FergusonSpeaks —extended raw clips of each of the video’s subjects are available upon request.

http://handsupunited.org